Gracetown Chill

The Easter crowds are gone and we’ve moved to a tiny coastal town. Gracetown is a gem. By the numbers: <250 people, 1 store, 1 playground. The playground was built just before Easter, just in time!! Water source is the sky, so everyone has giant rain catchment tanks in their backyard. Attempts to develop the area further have been shot down again and again. So it hasn’t changed much since it became a town in the early 60’s. Gracetown is named after Grace Bussell (1860-1935) who was involved in a local daring water rescue at age sixteen. Cool.

It is quiet. There is surf and calm waters and trails that meander north and south. There are all kinds of fish in the bay. It is a wonderful place to chill out and play in the ocean.

The day we arrived I participated in an all-day silent retreat at a local farm. Talk about getting the chill mojo rolling!! My day started with a lovely 4-mile walk to the farm, mostly through forest. Photos below are from the walk. Naturally our phones were forbidden fruit for the rest of the day. We mostly practiced Anapanasati which is basically just meditating on your breath without trying to change it at all. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep a few times sitting upright on a cushion. No evidence of drool or falling over. The vegetarian food was insanely sensational and mostly grown on the farm. They also run permaculture classes at the center. There was some camping and trails and a yoga barn. It was literally more Santa Cruz than Santa Cruz if that is possible. It does wonders to just let the mind rest. I should do it more often. The retreat leader was this amazing healer from Israel of all places. We did two hours of Yin Yoga at the end of the day. She wove in a sound bath and cranio-sacral massage. It was followed by a vegetarian dinner feast where we slowly and awkwardly broke our “noble silence”. By then it was just easier not to talk or look at anybody!! But we did!! We were brave, awkward and kind as Brene Brown encourages us to be :) In the days that followed I noticed more awareness of all things including my own monkey mind.

So I missed the sunset on our first day in Gracetown, because I was retreating. And I missed the second sunset because Justin and I went to a yoga class in town. On our third night the sunset did not disappoint. Nor did it disapppoint on the fourth night. I am here for sunsets and sunset strolls. Never gets old. The locals tell me fall sunsets are the best - it’s fall right now!! South of the equator living!!

Life is so decadent here that I can even sit on the couch and watch sunsets. And new moons.

Hazel was disappointed to see no playgrounds in Gracetown on Google maps. Lucky for us Google maps had not caught up with local reality, i.e. the playground that was built in Gracetown just before Easter. It’s one block from where we’re staying. There’s a basketball hoop and tennis courts. The house has games and puzzles. Hazel and I have learned backgammon and play several times a day. Infinite opportunities to play. We are golden. I’m so glad we snuck in this trip around the world while I still have a kid that loves playgrounds. There’s an incredibly cool, beautiful, handmade dinosaur in the playground that Hazel and I love to crawl all over. I told some locals, and they said “oh, you mean the whale?”.

I have started joining the local 8am swim in the bay. Everyone is about 10-20 years older than me. It’s an inspiration really. My morning soul food. The ‘coffee after’ at Gracie’s is inevitably longer than the swim. We talk about everything. I feel deeply lucky to have been welcomed into this ritual. I’m also getting out for trail runs. The trail running is quite divine: rolling single track by the ocean. Bought a slightly used SUP on Facebook Marketplace and loving paddles in the bay. At this point we are a traveling circus with two surfboards, one boogie board, one SUP, one basketball, two guitars, one road bike and plenty of other things we shouldn’t be carting around. It will be interesting to see what gets sold and what leaves Australia with us. We are far from living up to our “live with less” aspirations. I look forward to its return. Less is more.

From day one I noticed the art in Gracetown :) I have slowed down.

Apparently Australia is a great place to see the Milky Way. I agree.

I was impressed with Will’s lunch plating the other day so I snapped a photo. Speaking of food, Justin is living his best vegetable life. He knows all the good sources for all his favorites and cooks up a storm every night. He’s cooking with more spices than ever before, inspired by our time in India. Lentils almost every day, thanks India. Life is good.